The Madras High Court has directed the Chennai police to register an FIR against BJP national secretary H Raja on a complaint by a leader of the Indian National League (INL).

Justice M S Ramesh, before whom the petition filed by INL leader J Abdul Rahim came up, said in the order, "the inspector is not justified in having received the complaint and keeping it unattended without any further action".

"In view of the same, the petitioner has made out a case for this court to invoke its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code," he said and directed the Triplicane police in the city to register an FIR against Raja.

"The inquiry discloses the commisision of a cognisable offence, the FIR must be registered if not already registered or closed," he said.

The matter relates to a statement allegedly issued by Raja in connection with an attack on the father of Aswin Kumar, a party worker in Ramanathapuram in July last.

Condemning the attack, the BJP leader had reportedly alleged that Muslim outfits were responsible for it.

Contending that the alleged statement of Raja would instigate violence between members of the two communities, the INL leader filed a police complaint on July 18.

As the police had not registered a case, Rahim said he had approached the high court.